A Chicago man has been charged after allegedly throwing his wife’s two chihuahua dogs off a balcony, killing one of them.

Chicago police officers responded to a call of domestic battery on Monday at a home in West Town.

The wife of Jerald Jeske, 51, told police that during an argument in the car after the couple returned home from a family party, Jeske told her: “You love those dogs more than you love me. … I’m going to kill those dogs.”

Jeske, an attorney with a Texan energy company, “then went inside the house, took both small dogs, and threw them from the second floor balcony,” according to a statement from police.

A 17-year-old chihuahua died at the scene, according to police (other reports say the dog was 16 years old). The other dog has not been found.

Jeske was charged with aggravated cruelty to animals. He appeared in court on Wednesday.

Assistant State’s Attorney Erin Antonietti told the court that Jeske had made threats against the dogs and snatched the keys from his wife of 18 months, running inside and locking the door after him.

After hearing the “screeching” of a dog, the wife went into the backyard and found her elderly chihuahua on the ground, bleeding but breathing. One of its eyes had been dislodged from its socket, the Sun-Times reported. It died shortly after.

Surveillance cameras allegedly show footage of Jeske throwing the dogs off the balcony.

BuzzFeed News was unable to contact the public defender for Jeske, but the defendant told the court that Antonietti’s report was “full of inaccuracies.” His next court hearing is on Monday.